TOP PLACE
over the world and keep the tradition of pottery, wood carving and decoration alive. 39
Piazza Santo Spirito 36
SHOPPING
The best-known fashion houses have their boutiques and shops on Via de’ Tornabuoni and Via della Vigna. The other shopping streets are located just a few meters away from the city’s main attractions. And so, by walking from the Duomo to Piazza della Signoria, you will be able to browse and shop at the many stores along Via Calzaiuoli and Via del Corso. Be sure to
visit the Ponte Vecchio lined with sparkling jewelry shops. 37
CRAFT SHOPS
It is the other side of Florence, the traditional one, oozing with the creativity and colors of craft shops. It is Florence’s Oltrarno, the neighborhood of old arts and crafts. The San Frediano, San Niccolò and Santo Spirito areas are filled with goldsmith’s workshops that work and assemble gemstones to create unique and extraordinary jewels. 38
ANTIQUE SHOPS
Via Maggio and Via dei Fossi are the streets where the ancient techniques of etching, metalworking and furniture and frame gilding are still performed. Workshops that attract customers from all
FORTE BELVEDERE
Besides being one of the city’s most panoramic locations, it is an architectural work designed in the late 1500s by Bernardo Buontalenti for Ferdinando I de’ Medici. It is the Vasari Corridor’s final stretch and it has been housing international contemporary art exhibitions since 2013. Via di S. Leonardo, 1 ph. +39 055 2768224 musefirenze.it Open from June to October, closed on Mondays
LOGGIA DEL PORCELLINO 40
Loggia del Porcellino is the common name for Florence’s Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, so called to distinguish it from the Mercato Vecchio, which was located in the area of today’s Piazza della Repubblica. The Loggia’s focal point has been, since 1640, the Fontana del Porcellino ( the piglet fountain), actually a replica of the seventeenth-century
Piazza del Duomo Tower of San Niccolò
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Piazzale Michelangelo
